Blog
Articles on finishing self-generated work and building expertise-based creative businesses, with the Creative Engine, Ground Truth, and Capacity frameworks.
incubator-testimonial
From riding the rollercoaster to piloting the plane—how one artist brought joy and financial stability back to her business
Listen to Rauni’s story in her own words: Update 2025: Three years after beginning to transform her business, Rauni Higson has been awarded an MBE for services to Silversmithing, creates commissioned pieces for royalty, and takes climbing trips between major projects—all while earning more than ever from doing less. “I feel like a grub that has turned into a dragonfly,” she says. Business transformation isn’t instant—it comes from laying the right foundation and then committing to building on it, even through self-doubt and ups and downs. When we first interviewed Rauni in 2022, she had just established her new business model. She was seeing early success, but the real power of the changes she made would unfold over the next…
Frustrated filmmaker overcomes a crisis of confidence to find rapid success
Listen to Avantika’s story in her own words: As an accomplished filmmaker, Avantika Hari Agrawal has always been full of ideas. She enjoyed the creativity, opportunity, and potential that came with being a successful filmmaker partnering with Netflix and others. But the reality of the filmmaker life meant her dream projects getting stuck in “development hell,” where she faced unending rewrites and second guessing, feeling herself lose the ability to drive the narrative. Her show was getting lost in the corporate shuffle. Avantika loved the creative part of filmmaking, but it was becoming increasingly more challenging because of external pressures. That, in turn, caused her to start feeling self-doubt: Am I good enough? Have I done enough? Am I able…
From Burnt Out Artist to Joyful Creative Coach: The Power of the “Perfect Fit” Business Model
Listen to Eleanor’s story in her own words: Eleanor Chaney is an artist and educator who has worked as an illustrator, exhibited her prints in shops and galleries, and taught skills-based arts and crafts classes to thousands of people. But as a working artist and teacher, she felt like she had hit an upper limit on how much money she could make. “[During the pandemic] what became really, really apparent was it wasn’t that I wasn’t capable of making a living as an artist. The things I was being paid for weren’t even fulfilling in the way that they had been in the past. Because I had changed. And what I wanted from my work had changed. And I also…
Are you on the hamster wheel of being overworked and underpaid? How one neurodivergent artist created a path to success
Listen to Deirdre’s story in her own words: When people talk about being “stuck” professionally because of constant overwhelm in their life, Deirdre Colgan Jones understands. Deirdre is a professionally trained artist, architect, and teacher who struggled to make a living doing what she loves. “I was caught in this hamster wheel of doing things that I thought would earn me an income, only to come up empty-handed or underpaid.” When Deirdre joined the Autonomous Creative Incubator (ACI) program in January of 2022, her mother and son both had health issues that required constant attention, and her recent diagnosis of adult ADHD made completing tasks even more challenging. “I was struggling with how I could be an artist sustainably. That’s…